Silva vs. Sonnen Moved Due to On-Set Brawl Injuries; White Says, “What Are You Gonna Do?”

Silva got in Sonnen’s face, Sonnen took him down, and they ended in a melee on the concrete floor of the gym with one of Silva’s coaches, Andre Dida, sucker punching Sonnen in the back and head.

The fight has come under heavy criticism from fans and fighters alike – including middleweight contender Vitor Belfort – most saying that there is no place for such violence outside of the cage in mixed martial arts; some though saying they believe it was all staged for the cameras.

UFC president Dana White on Wednesday night, however, said that the fight was anything but staged, calling it a “disgusting display,” and indicating that injuries stemming from the fight are what pushed the in-Octagon date for a bout between the coaches from May to July.

“That was far from contrived. That thing was a disgusting display of what shouldn’t happen,” said White. “If I was there, that would never have happened. The fact that there were other people, even people holding cameras in that (expletive) place and let that happen, is beyond belief.

“Wanderlei got hurt in that fight. He got double-legged on the concrete. He hurt his back and he hurt his hand punching Chael in the head. He got injured, so couldn’t fight on time (on May 31) because he got hurt in the fight (while) coaching the show, which is disgusting.”

That led White and the UFC to move the bout to UFC 175 on July 5, although it has yet to be added to the fight card listed on the promotion’s web site. The card currently has three bouts listed, Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida, Ronda Rousey vs. Alexis Davis, and Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos.

Whether that means there is another delay coming or not remains to be seen. There are some people that proposed some sort of sanction against Silva and Sonnen for the altercation, as the situation surely violated the UFC’s code of conduct policies, but White gave no indication that any was forthcoming.

“I’m done being angry now. I was angry when it happened. It’s just disgusting,” said White when asked about the fight and its aftermath. “What are you gonna do? They’re grown men, getting in each other’s face. I’m more pissed off at the people that were standing around producing, filming.”

At least we had a preview of Sonnen’s takedown.
On a positive note, UFC 175 is going to be good.

Matte

I’m usually frowning upon the foil hats seeing conspiracies everywhere but this seem a little fishy.

IF Dana and the UFC really didn’t want any such representation of the sport and their organization they could have just not shown the brawl.

Seem like promoting to be honest.

u got double legged biotch!!!

they wanted it to happen. thats why no one stopped them as soon as silva got in his face. they held back rampage when he was going to fight on the show, why didnt they now? thanks to stupid silva i have to wait to see sonnen beat him down

Jay Magallon

White is upset that the people filming and producing didn’t step in? Really? I for one don’t want any part of breaking up Wander Silva and Chael Sonnen in what is essentially a street fight.

When it comes to reality TV, is it not a well-known part of protocol for the camera crew to not interfere under any circumstances unless it regards life or death??

I like Dana White very much but he sure spits out a lot of BULL$HIT on a regular basis.